1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a user-friendly interface design. In particular, the present invention allows a user having access to multiple selected accounts to be authenticated for all such accounts in a simple and secure manner.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There is a proliferation of accounts with restricted access for users of the Internet. For example, many users of instant messaging have multiple accounts at the large networks or providers, such as Google Talk, AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Skype and others. Increasingly, it is a burden for a user to both remember all his or her usernames and passwords, as well as to actually sign into all of his or her accounts. One solution is to create a new system that signs onto all of a user's accounts simultaneously. A typical implementation of such a system requires that the user create a new account with new credentials, and then associate the credentials for each of the other accounts with this new account. However, this can be onerous for the user—often forcing him or her to remember yet another new account username and password.